The Employment Development Department said Friday that the unemployment rate fell two-tenths of a percentage point since October. It had fallen to 8.5 percent in June before bouncing back up to 8.9 percent by August.

More than 44,000 non-farm jobs were added. The U.S. Labor Department says California, Texas and Indiana reported the largest job gains in November as hiring improved across the country.

California has added 903,000 jobs since February 2010, when the state employment department says the economic recovery began.

Despite the gains, California still exceeds the national unemployment rate, which dropped to 7.0 percent in November.

Nearly 1.6 million people remained unemployed in California, down 34,000 from October.